Alternative Education Tops Agenda

HAMPTON — Plans to expand dropout prevention programs and help prevent teen-agers from becoming pregnant will be the major topics of Wednesday's Hampton School Board meeting.

The board is scheduled to discuss a report on alternative education that was produced by a committee of students, parents, teachers and administrators. The report, which was a year in the making, recommends:

* A preschool program, homework center and other dropout prevention programs at Lincoln Park, a low-income apartment complex, should be replicated in other areas of the city.

* The "School Within a School" program at Kecoughtan High School, which provides students considered at risk of dropping out with extra guidance counseling and special classes, should be copied in other schools.

* Schools should step up efforts to prevent teen-age pregnancies and should do more to keep pregnant teen-agers from dropping out of school.

The report does not suggest how to pay for those and other alternative education plans, school officials said. Those specifics will be discussed in the coming year.

Most of the recommended changes to alternative education would be made in the 1997-98 school year, said Linda Hanchey, coordinator of alternative education.

Also at Wednesday night's meeting, known as the annual organizational meeting, the board will choose a chairman and vice chairman and set dates and times for its meetings in the coming year.

Currently the chairman is James Haggard, a certified public accountant, and the vice chairman is Carlton Brown, dean of the School of Liberal Arts & Education at Hampton University.

The board meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month.

SCHOOL MEETING

* The Hampton School Board meets Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the School Administrative Center, 1819 Nickerson Blvd. The meeting will be televised on cable Channel 5.